


One Dark Night in Ketterdam

by benjaminrussell



Series: Kerch Halloween [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Gen, Halloween, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 06:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8317774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: Halloween's a popular festival in Ketterdam because the Kerch love to dress up. Some members of Kaz's crew are happier about this than others.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt “Everything’s scarier at night, obviously.”
> 
> It doesn't really fit into canon, but I wanted to write Halloween fic so it's set at some nebulous time when they're all in Ketterdam.

“I still don’t understand the point of this celebration,” Matthias grumbled, pulling at the fake beard Nina had forced on him, “And why don’t you celebrate it in the daytime?”

“Everything’s scarier at night, obviously,” Nina grinned, completely undeterred by his grumpiness. She was dressed in a slinky black dress, with a high collared, black cloak draped around her shoulders, and a necklace with a deep red ruby pendant lying just above her cleavage. She’d then completed the look by tailoring her canine teeth into full on fangs. He did have to admit that she looked rather alluring, in a slightly dark and creepy way. Not that she didn’t always look alluring, something she made good use of in order to make Matthias blush at least several times a day, but this was different.

“You know how much the Kerch love costumes and masquerades,” Inej piped up, half dressed in her own all white, old fashioned looking costume. She hadn’t been perched on Nina’s bed a moment ago, but they’d all gotten used to her sudden appearing and disappearing by now, so Nina just waved a hand in the other woman’s direction and agreed, “Exactly. There are all sorts of festivals and celebrations throughout the year and probably half of them involve dressing up. Today’s ostensibly for remembering the dead, however over the years it’s turned into a night for scaring each other.” Nina leant in again to tailor Matthias’ teeth some more – making them sharper and more wolf-like, although nowhere near as long as her own fangs, and by the time she’d stepped back to admire her work, Inej had vanished again.

“So it’s just another excuse for a party,” Matthias said disapprovingly, once Nina’s hands were safely away from his teeth.

“Essentially,” She replied, laughing at his expression whilst she reached for a pot of hair wax. She began to style his hair, almost pressing against him to reach every last strand.

“Do you really need to stand so close?” Matthias asked, hating how his voice made obvious the reason for his discomfort. It was all he could do to not grab her and kiss her senseless. Nina just smirked at him and closed the gap between them, reaching around to the back of his head to style the hair there. Then she told him in a low, amused voice, “I don’t _need_ to, I just want to.” Matthias could feel himself going red and couldn’t think of a retort so he just stood there, blushing and glowering, until Nina was done.

“You can relax now,” She teased as she stepped back, putting her tailoring kit away before taking his arm and pulling him towards the full length mirror that was leant against one wall.

“There. Very scary,” She grinned at him, fangs making the expression a lot more menacing than usual. Matthias dragged his gaze from her to his reflection, and then blinked in surprise. He’d known what Nina had done to him, but it was still a surprise seeing how realistic the finished result looked. As realistic as a fictional creature could look anyway.

“It looks good,” He admitted reluctantly, turning his head side to side and baring his teeth for a better look at the details. Nina beamed at him, and her smile almost made dressing up worth it.

“Let’s go and show the others,” She suggested, and then immediately crossed the room to the door, knowing that Matthias wouldn’t say no to her. He followed her through into the main living area where the rest of the crew were gathered, all lounging around and clearly waiting for the two of them. Inej had finished getting ready in the time Nina had been putting the finishing touches to Matthias’ costume, so was now all decked out in old fashioned finery as the ghost of a long dead mercher. Jesper and Wylan were sat on one of the sofas together – Jesper lounging against the backrest and looking spectacularly like a corpse, while Wylan was perched forward on the seat, inspecting the bones on his costume. He was dressed all in fitted black clothing, including a hood, and his outfit was covered in bones made from some material that caught the light, meaning that when he was out in the dark night, he’d look like a rather flashy skeleton. Kaz was sat in his usual armchair, seemingly not dressed up at all. He noticed Matthias looking though, and informed him drily, “I’m scarier than anything people will be dressing up as tonight.” Matthias rather thought that was a bit of a cop out, but he wasn’t going to argue with Kaz, not about some festivities that he didn’t approve of to begin with.

“What do you think?” Nina asked, doing a twirl that made her cape flutter before baring her teeth in an imitation of a vampire.

“You both look great,” Inej smiled, hopping to her feet and coming closer to get a better look at Nina’s necklace.

“You’re sure to be the star of the party,” Jesper grinned, “Especially with your natural enemy at your side.” He winked at Matthias in a way that made him distinctly uncomfortable and made Wylan elbow Jesper, although the younger man was also failing to hide a chuckle which ruined the admonishment somewhat. Nina just beamed at them both, not at all bothered by the teasing. Matthias knew that he was the primary target of the crew’s teasing (and flirting) because he reacted to it, but he couldn’t help himself. His upbringing had been drastically different to life here in Ketterdam, and it was going to take him a while longer still before he fully adjusted to his new home.

“Now we’re all ready, shall we make a move?” Wylan asked, glancing Kaz’ way. Kaz nodded, got to his feet and announced, “You all go - I’ve got something to do first. I’ll see you there.” The others all stood up and filed out of the room, Jesper bringing up the rear. As he passed Kaz, he nodded and out of habit said, “No mourners.” The last thing Matthias heard as they left the house was Kaz’ faint reply.

“No funerals.”


End file.
